10 Most Divisive WWE Match Outcomes Ever
1. Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels - Survivor Series 1997
WWE can probably be forgiven for rehashing Survivor Series 1997's Montreal Screwjob finish, almost twenty years after it first propagated perhaps the most controversial disturbance in the history of pro wrestling. They're not the only ones still obsessed with it.
If it divided the wrestling fandom, it unified the locker room who, to a man, were on Hart's side. Several of them threatened to walk out - and Mick Foley, Crush, Rick Rude, Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith all did, for varying lengths of time. Meanwhile, it was the office - Jim Cornette, specifically - who came up with the idea to screw Hart, out of sheer exasperation, entirely unaware that it would be taken seriously.
Those on the outside agonised over what was an incredibly complex situation. Hart wouldn't do business on the way out, a contravention of the accepted code, but if anybody had cause to contravene it, it was Hart. Michaels, in front of the entire locker room, had laughed off Hart's promise to put him over with a withering "I wouldn't do it for you."
Both men had committed the ultimate transgression. While there was no clear answer, there was a clear winner: the WWF.
I feel no shame in prostituting myself - the events of the incident are covered wonderfully in the book Titan Screwed - available here.